Rudy Giuliani now suspended from practising law in DC after New York suspension

Five-judge panel in New York ruled Trump attorney spread ‘demonstrably false and misleading statements’ that ‘directly inflamed’ violence on 6 January

After a New York court suspended him from practising law in the state for his “demonstrably false and misleading statements” in spurious legal challenges across the US to reject the results of the 2020 presidential election, Rudy Giuliani is now also suspended from practising law in Washington DC.

His suspension in New York automatically triggered his suspension in the the nation’s capital city while a panel performs a disciplinary review.

Last month, a New York State appellate court determined that the legal conduct of Donald Trump’s longtime personal attorney and adviser “immediately threatens the public interest and warrants interim suspension from the practice of law, pending further proceedings before the Attorney Grievance Committee,” according to the ruling from the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York.

On 7 July, the DC Court of Appeals ruled that Mr Giuliani remains “suspended from the practice of law in the District of Columbia pending final disposition of this proceeding.”

In January, the New York State Bar Association suspended Mr Giuliani’s membership in the wake of the Capitol riot on 6 January, fuelled by the baseless “stolen election” conspiracies promoted by Mr Trump and his allies.

The five-judge appellate panel said his false claims “directly inflamed” events that led to violence at the Capitol.

The suspension prohibits the former New York City mayor from representing clients in legal settings, but he is not disbarred, though some analysts have predicted that the revocation of his law license is inevitable.

“It’s now almost inconceivable that he will ever set foot in a courtroom again as anything other than a defendant,” attorney and political commentator George Conway said following Mr Giuliani’s suspension in New York.

Before his two terms as New York City’s mayor, Mr Giuliani was a top official at the US Department of Justice, serving as US Associate Attorney General and as a US attorney in Manhattan.

Lawsuits filed by Mr Giuliani’s legal campaign to overturn election results in states that Mr Trump lost were largely dismissed in court, and Mr Trump’s own campaign and administration, along with officials from the Justice Department and the FBI, as well as elections administrators across the US have dismissed allegations of widespread voter fraud, despite Mr Trump’s persistent lie that Democrats conspired to “steal” the election from him.

A scathing, 33-page ruling from a five-judge panel in New York on 24 June condemned false statements spread by Mr Giuliani in the wake of the election as he pursued lawsuits in Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania, states that Joe Biden definitively won.

“When those false statements are made by an attorney, it also erodes the public’s confidence in the integrity of attorneys admitted to our bar and damages the profession’s role as a crucial source of reliable information,” according to the ruling.

That harm is “magnified” by Mr Giuliani, acting as an attorney, using “his large megaphone” to repeatedly spread those false claims, the panel wrote.

“One only has to look at the ongoing present public discord over the 2020 election, which erupted into violence, insurrection and death ... at the US Capitol, to understand the extent of the damage that can be done when the public is misled by false information about the elections,” according to the ruling.

Following his suspension in New York, the former president called his former adviser “the Eliot Ness of his generation” and the greatest mayor in New York City’s history while blaming the “radical left” for his suspension.

“Can you believe New York wants to strip Rudy Giuliani, a greatAmerican Patriot, of his law license because he is fighting what has already been proven to be a Fraudulent Election?” Mr Trump said in a statement.

The Independent has requested comment from Mr Giuliani’s attorney.